Hi Geoff I found it on the 1861 census for Ruardean. It looks pretty clear. On the 1871 census the enumerator mixed the children up so that it looked as if Mary Ann's sister Elizabeth had been born in Bordeaux but I'm pretty sure that the correct child was Mary Ann who was born 1855. I have not been able to find the parents marriage so far. JOSEPH WEBB was born in 1822/3 and ELIZABETH POWELL was born 1831/2/3. Both fairly common names unfortunately. I'll keep plodding on. Thanks for your interest Eirwen -----Original Message----- From: Geoffrey Stone Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2011 1:49 PM To: jandeh Cc: GLAMORGAN@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [GLA] WEBB BORN IN FRANCE Eirwen, The first question - which you should probably said in your message - how do you know that she was born in France? In other words how reliable is the source? Was it a census transcription for example? Have you found the parent's marriage? Regards, Geoff At 11:09 02/06/2011, Eirwen wrote: >Good Morning Listers Can any-one really bright suggest any reason why an >ancestor of mine was born in Bordeaux, France circa 1856? She was MARY ANN >WEBB, sister to my Grandmother, EMMA CECIL WEBB. Her parents WILLIAM and >ELIZABETH WEBB came from Worcester and Gloucestershire respectively and had >some of their children in Ruardean, Gloc and some in Llanharry, Glamorgan. >William Webb would have been an Ag Lab in 1856 and I can’t imagine why he >and his wife would have gone to France unless it was to pick grapes. It >seems a very adventurous thing to do especially if Elizabeth was pregnant >at the time. Mary Ann seemed to have been their first child. If any-one can >shed light on the conditions of the time and a possible reason for this I >would love to hear about it. Best Wishes Eirwen --